BRUSSELS -- Denmark, backed by 10 other European Union countries, called for a strategy to phase out diesel and gasoline cars, including allowing the ban of sales at member state-level by 2030 to combat climate change.
Denmark made the proposal during a meeting of EU environment ministers in Luxembourg on Friday.
The European Commission's new president, Ursula van der Leyen, aims to to make Europe the first climate neutral continent by 2050.
The Danish delegation argued that to achieve this the transport sector needs to decrease their emissions, which is the only sector that currently are increasing its emissions.
The EU aims to cut carbon emissions in the bloc by 40 percent by 2030 while its executive, the Commission, plans to reduce them to zero by 2050 to help stop global warming.